The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has upheld the pretrial restriction imposed on former lawmaker Maksym Mykytas, a suspect in money laundering and raider takeover cases known as the "Forrest Gump" and "Femida" operations: detention with an alternative bail option of UAH 30 million.
"The panel of judges has ruled: to leave the appeals unsatisfied and to leave the ruling of the High Anti-Corruption Court’s investigating judge… unchanged," the operative part of the HACC Appeals Chamber’s ruling states.
The Appeals Chamber on Tuesday reviewed appeals filed by Mykytas’ defense attorney and the prosecutor against the investigating judge’s ruling of Aug 21.
Mykytas took part in the hearing via video link.
Asked by one of the judges on the panel whether it was true that violence had allegedly been used against him in pretrial detention, the suspect said: "No, what violence? Against me? There wasn’t… nothing like that."
The hearing was livestreamed on the HACC Appeals Chamber’s YouTube channel.
As previously reported, the HACC ordered Mykytas held in detention with an alternative bail option of UAH 30 million on Aug 21. The prosecutor had sought detention with an alternative bail option of UAH 200 million.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) released a video on Aug 19 on the "Forrest Gump" operation, exposing and notifying suspicion to people who laundered UAH 150 million to pay bail for a suspect in the "Midas" case. The group included, among others, a deputy head of the Presidential Office and a former lawmaker.
NABU and SAPO released a second video on Aug 20 on corruption among senior officials, called "Femida," exposing the illegal seizure of real estate and company assets through document forgery.
Later on Aug 20, NABU and SAPO commented on the previously released "Forrest Gump" and "Femida" videos, which exposed corruption schemes involving senior Presidential Office officials and a former and current lawmaker.
"The criminal organization’s activities were aimed, among other things, at seizing high-value real estate and other assets of legal entities through unauthorized interference in the Justice Ministry’s information systems and the forgery of court rulings and property title documents," NABU said on Telegram on Thursday.
According to NABU, members of the criminal organization carried out a raider takeover of two companies in the fall of 2025, with combined assets worth UAH 248 million. "At the same time, the goal of seizing one of these companies was to gain control over real estate in central Kyiv worth more than UAH 500 million," NABU said.
In addition, NABU said members of the criminal organization attempted in May 2026 to seize real estate in Kyiv worth more than UAH 207 million, but "due to circumstances beyond their control, were unable to carry out this crime to completion."
NABU also said that certain members of the criminal organization, acting in conspiracy with representatives and officials of a state bank, organized and carried out the laundering of criminally obtained funds during June 2026.
"This involved UAH 150 million in cash that was funneled through a number of shell company accounts into legal circulation to pay bail for a participant in another criminal organization (the ‘Midas’ case)," NABU said.
Based on the evidence obtained, NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors have notified members of the criminal organization and people they recruited of suspicion under Articles 255, 191, 206-2, 209, 358 and 361 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code.
One of the suspects in the money laundering and raider takeover schemes is Iryna Mudra, former deputy head of the Presidential Office. The HACC ordered her held in detention with an alternative bail option of UAH 20 million on Aug 25. After the ruling was announced, Mudra said she would try to raise that amount.
During the court hearing, Mudra’s lawyers asked the court to review the array of information from covert investigative actions, which they said shows Mudra was under pressure from another suspect in the case, former lawmaker Maksym Mykytas.
"Of the 237 conversations included in this case, 232 were recorded via the microphone of a single person. That person was close to me, I trusted her — him — and the whole time he was talking to me, he was recording me," Mudra said, apparently referring to Mykytas.
SAPO head Oleksandr Klymenko said anti-corruption bodies did not use Mykytas as an agent in the "Forrest Gump" and "Femida" operations related to money laundering and raider takeovers.
Neither Mudra nor Mykytas has posted bail so far, and both remain in custody.
